Today Malta joins the international maritime community to celebrate World Maritime Day. Malta commemorates this occasion on the same day as the International Maritime Organisation, on 27 September.
The theme for World Maritime Day in 2007 as approved by the IMO Council of the organisation is “IMO’s response to current environmental challenges”.
Malta acknowledges the dynamic response of IMO to current environmental challenges and acknowledges the important role IMO has in ensuring global acceptance and implementation of the twin objectives of safer and more secure shipping and the protection of the marine environment. Malta pays tribute to this organisation for its success in heading maritime participants, ensuring a safe, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective industry, a Department of Information statement said yesterday.
Malta has been a member of IMO since 1966 having acceded in June of that year to the UN convention establishing this organisation. As an international maritime centre, particularly as one of the largest shipping registers in the world, Malta is an active participant at IMO.
Malta is also proud of its direct association with two very important international centres run by IMO and located in Malta, the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI). Both institutions have a distinct objective to ensure that maritime administrations have well-developed and suitably-trained human resources. Malta has also been elected member of the IMO Council on three successive occasions and is still a member today.
Successive Maltese government administrations have clearly demonstrated uninterrupted support for the work of IMO and for the importance the government continues to attach to the further development and upgrading of the maritime sector. The government pledges its continuing support.
On the occasion of this significant event in a message to the IMO, Communications and Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea said, “On the occasion of World Maritime Day, Malta pays tribute to the International Maritime Organisation and, particularly this year, to the organisation’s dynamic response to current environmental challenges.
“The government pledged its support to IMO as the main catalyst for instilling a universal quality safety culture that is so important for ensuring safer and more secure shipping and the protection of the marine environment.”